Observation Sheet Questioning

Graduate Standards - AITSL

Professional Knowledge: Know students and how they learn
Professional Practice: Plan and implement effective teaching and learning

Question Type

Do you feel your questions For the most part, yes. However, some questions that I posed to the
were clearly structured and students were not worded well or not executed well. For example,
readily understood by the sometimes I spoke too quickly due to nerves.
students?

Did you use a variety of Yes, particularly in my small group lesson as described below.
question types?

What balance was there I mainly used the first three levels of Blooms Taxonomy. The group I was
between the various questions working with were some of the less proficient readers, so I didnt try
types? using some of the higher levels of questioning.

Consider both why and when The members of my group had different roles relating to the task they
you made use of the different were doing, and the types of questions I would ask the group related to
question types? the particular role we were discussing at the time.

Distributing and Directing Questions

Did you recognise any pattern
in the distribution of your
questions amongst the
students? Consider reasons
for this pattern?
Yes, the types of questions I directed at the students was relative to the
current task as well as my knowledge of the students level of proficiency
in the current topic.
How have you directed Questions that I directed towards a group tended to be open questions to
questions to the group? incite discussion.

Have you used wait time? I can recall a few times I used wait time while giving my small group
lesson. However, I believe I neglected it in my whole class lesson.

Did you make eye contact with Yes, I think so, for the most part.
the group as you directed your
questions?

Reactions to Students Responses

How do you deal with correct When students answered questions correctly or contributed
responses? Do you qualify any meaningfully to the discussion of an open question I was consistent in
praise given? my verbal praise, however, I neglected to give tangible rewards that my
mentor teacher was using in the classroom.
How do you deal with incorrect If I student gave an incorrect answer, I usually praised them for trying
responses? How do you deal and moved on to another student. I sometimes gave them a chance to
with students who stumble and correct themselves. Im not sure if I sometimes moved on too quickly
grope for an answer? without giving the original student enough time to try correct
themselves. I will need to reflect on that more.

What use do you make of the
students responses to develop
the teaching point? Have you
redirected any questions in
order to add to an initial
response?
Are you the only evaluator of
the students answers?
Yes, a few times I recall re-wording or re-phrasing a question to help the
students understand what I was asking. I also recall using the students
answers to pose further questioning and create a greater understanding
of what was being discussed.
No, the other students, the mentor teacher and my fellow prac student
would also evaluate the students answers.

Overall Comments

As a whole, I believe my questioning skills are passable. However, I will need to work on my delivery
and use of wait time.
Observation Sheet Management
Graduate Standards AITSL
Professional Practice: Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments

Planning for Effective Management

Was your lesson plan effective For about half to three-quarters of the lesson, I feel that I successfully
for managing the class? managed the class. However, during the transition into individual work I
made a few mistakes that resulted in quite a noisy room and I never
really recovered from that because I was busy helping individual
students.

How did the students react to
your lesson overall and to
your planned activities?
Did anything unexpected
happen?
Overall I think the students enjoyed my lesson, particularly the robot
activity I ran at the start of the lesson. They seemed to enjoy volunteering.
I dont recall anything majorly unexpected happening, a few minor
things though, such as a student constantly commenting on what I was
saying. But I feel like I dealt with that pretty well by making him sit on
the floor at the front of the class, as I had seen my mentor teacher do
previously.

Did you provide a variety of Yes, I think my lesson was quite varied, I had 3-4 different tasks for the
activities? students throughout the lesson.

Were you satisfied with your
timing, particularly for the end
of the lesson?
Did you feel you were able to
change things if needed?
My timing needed work, I ran a bit over and didnt get time for a recap at
the end of the lesson.
Yes, I decided, in the moment, to do the working out of the last quiz
question as a class because it didnt appear on my answer sheet that I had
printed out previously.

Were you aware of classroom
procedures and school
disciplinary policy? How
much did you know about your
students?
I was aware. I was taking note of what my mentor was doing for
disciplinary action because I was not confident in my knowledge of that
area. However, I regrettably neglected to use it during my lesson. I knew
a little about a few students; I had ample time to talk to and get to know
them throughout the pracs duration.

How did your mentor teacher She had some strategies she was using. Things like rewarding students
maintain a safe learning who were involved in the lesson, a friendly demeanor, etc.
environment?

What strategies did your I noticed that she would often let the class know that being wrong was ok
observe your mentor teacher and that no questions are dumb questions. This is important because an
using to maintain this?
 important step in building a safe learning environment is creating a
judgment-free zone.

Maintaining a Positive Attitude in the Classroom

How did you demonstrate to Im a pretty casual, approachable person (I think) in my personal life, so I
the students that you valued tried to stay true to that side of myself when interacting with the
them, and enjoyed learning? students. I tried to be open and listen actively to their questions and
concerns; and tried to be encouraging and friendly in my responses.
e.g. Tone of voice, facial
expression, sense of humour,
introduction to students and
topic.

Which aspects of your Certainly in the first part of my lesson, the fractions robot activity,
teaching style do you feel taking regular input from the class was hugely important in keeping the
helped you maintain class class engaged in the lesson.
attention?

e.g. Variety of activities, class

or group discussion, pace of
lesson, interest at class level.
Did the students know what Some of my instructions were unclear due to me rushing or simply not
was expected of them? understandably phrasing them.

Were you able to redirect Unfortunately no, I didnt plan sufficiently to deal with the attention-
energies of attention seeking seekers of the class.
students? Did the students
have enough
to do?

Dealing with Minor Misbehaviour

Were you aware of what was While I was addressing the whole class, it was relatively easy to keep an
happening in all parts of the eye what each student was doing, however, when doing the class was
classroom? Did you know doing individual work it was difficult to watch the whole class as I was
what each student was doing? busy helping students.
Did you take any action when
you observed poor behaviour?
Why? Why not?
For minimally-disruptive behaviour, I ignored it unless it continued to
the point where it became troublesome. For students that were
continually disruptive, I used strategies that my mentor teacher had been
using to deal with them, such as making the students sit on the floor at
the front of the class.

Did you use non-verbal cues? I, regrettably, dont recall using these techniques.
e.g. Contact, pause, gesture,
movement toward student/s
concerned.

Overall Comments

Dealing with misbehavior is one area that I am not confident in and need to work on; though I believe I
am capable of learning.

Schools as text looking at the whole school

Describe the school in terms of its As with, I assume, many Australian schools, the school that
demographics, appearance and resources I was at was very diverse and multi-cultural. It was a
(be general here and do not name the relatively small school, and the close-knit interactions of the
school). teachers and students reflected this.
 What did you observe non-teaching staff The only non-teacher staff member I saw during my prac
doing to support teaching and learning in was the groundskeeper, and I didnt get much of a chance
the school? to observe him working.

What were the roles and responsibilities
of the teaching staff you observed?
Students
As well as my mentor teacher, who performed her regular
teaching roles, I also had a chance to observe an
Education Assistant and was able to gain a greater
understanding of the work that they do in a classroom.
I also had the opportunity to observe specialist Drama, and
Music teachers.

You will have observed the diverse
nature of your classes. How was
this diversity supported?
I observed many different nationalities, personalities, and
learning abilities in the classroom. My mentor teacher made an
effort to make sure that the tasks that were being performed in
the classroom were as inclusive as possible. For example, the
students were making quilt patches out of items from their past,
giving them the opportunity to show who they are and where
they came from.
Function of Schools
Did you observe the connection
of your schools with the broader
community? How did this
happen?
What do you think the function of
school is?
Reflection think about your
experiences during the week
and describe how your previous
experiences have informed your
view of teachers and schools.
Has anything changed?
Yes, the final day of my prac I attended an assembly celebrating
the schools 50th anniversary. One of the speakers told of how
the community raised money for a built one of the schools
playgrounds.
The function of a school is to equip students with the skills that
they will need in their adult life. This includes academic skills
such as literacy, numeracy, science, and the arts; as well as
interpersonal social skills, like effective communication, critical
thinking and discussion, and how to work as a team.
I have always held teachers in a high regard, and this opinion
has not changed.